School Satire

Its really a bit strange reading satirical newspapers from the Unis i am at. Maybe its just because Singapore doesnt have any. But then again, there have been people making fun of life in our sunny island more than ever these days. I think a lot of them post their 'acute observations' on blogs, if i am not mistaken. What? They have all been arrested and deported to the Gobi desert? Its a good thing i hardly understand anything about politics. Which kind of explains why my sociology essays have to do with capitalism/ science and technology with the environment and not left- wing party policies.
With that not so lengthy digression, i must conclude that satirical papers do make me laugh. But its usually not the George Bush insults. On a recent episode of the Late Show with Conan O'Brien, he told the audience that postulation shows that the child of Paris Hilton and her pet monkey would result in a George Bush. Basically his reason was " All the wealth with brains of an ape".
What definitely gets my funny bones rattling though is the black humour type of creativity that strangely the video games generation do exhibit in abundance. Heres one from Queen's Uni's satirical paper called 'Golden Words'. The Cover of this one is a catchy picture showing a chick standing menacingly over Shanghai city with the headline "Avian Flu mutates".
Golden Words also attempts to explain the Taser which is a new "electric shock gun" much in the mold of Star Trek. Basically, it fires 2 darts that embed in the flesh of a criminal/ Queens student and this connects a circuit that delivers an electric shock. You can buy it online apparently, however i do not recommend shipping to Singapore because i think it will be construed to be worse than satires. Try here: http://www.smitwellsecurity.com/advancedtaser.htm
Well, the process of the Taser is very much like the way directors get Sylvester Stallone to act says Golden Words and they also offer up some interesting precautions in using your personal Taser succesfully. I have picked a few (but coloured illustrations are sadly lost thru this medium.)
1. Never tase someone in a moving car.
2. The Taser can only be used on one person at a time or two people if they are holding hands.
3. Your Taser cannot be used as a grappling gun.
4. Your Taser should not be used to cook food.
5. Tasers should not be given to children for Christmas, but Uzis should. If you do not stay near a black market to obtain one, give them a bow and arrows.
The fifth one is by me. Sorry i couldnt resist. Lets hear some from you guys! What do you mean you fear deportation?
Thank God Singapore does not have Uzis: http://world.guns.ru/smg/smg17-e.htm

The meaning of life ... (maybe not)

I was just thinking of my blog address being magnetic wood and i wonder how many people actually know the reason for it? I hope Louise does though cos she kind of made it redundant. haha.
Well magnetic wood in fact refers to magnetic wooden chess sets. It just so happens that i find them really cool. There are always magnetic sets with flat "reversi" like pieces but that takes away a bit of the thrill. Furthermore, i think they are also very practical cos chess pieces tend to topple here and there. So for my last bday, Louise kindly bought me one. Of course she knew i wanted it but STILL its really nice. I never did manage to coax her into telling me how much it cost though.
The strange thing is.. its so nice that its been attracting spiders and frogs on it. Maybe insects and amphibians think chess is fun too. Having typed all that i sort of feel and vaguely remember that i posted about this b4? Is my memory really failing me? haha. Comments pls?!

"Kiss me! Mr one leg." 

Ribbit, RIbbit is not Rabbit.  

Invasion of zoo plankton 

Snow is Grimy

My friend recently remarked to me that snow is only nice when you are indoors. This is because when it melts it gets dirty and messy and it also makes pavements slippery. And its hazardous to cars as well. Not to mention that a lot of people have to waste time and energy shovelling the stuff.
Thus i guess that one night of snow was good. Cos the next morning when i woke up it was all gone. Well, not that i really mind, i kept getting snow thrown at me. Which is another reason why snow should fall less now that we have taken the photos we wanted.
The big blobs of snow that appeared in the photos made me think that they looked kind of like strange organisms. Which explains why i classified snow as 'falling zoo plankton from the sky" with my MSN nick. Apparently, this is in fact just a single word "zooplankton" and is one of the functional groups of plankton. You can read more here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankton but be warned, its very scientifically- informationally overloading.

Moisturizer or Moisturizing Lotion?

Speaking of movies that i have just watched or watched here in Canada, i managed to rent the DVD "Napoleon Dynamite". I must admit i found it incredibly funny. But i must warn you i have extremely lame and warped sense of humour. Its also an independent films kind of production so special effects people beware. I am really biased in supporting films that start out as a low budget thing but try hard to make their show different, but i thought ND was really strangly cool. Its really hard to compete with the big guns in show business i guess, even the actors face an uphill task in getting noticed i am sure. So considering the curcumstances i was definitely more than satisfied. Its more of the Naked Gun, Hot Shots genre i guess. If anyone out there has seen it i would love to hear what others have to say about the film. I did hear it received quite favourable reviews but i can also emphatize with people who would absolutely detest such a show. Would like to hear why you hated it as well. Dont worry, Arts students tend to consider both sides of a story. To a certain degree.
Well, moving on in the show business world; did you hear that Jessica Simpson is trying to become an entrepenuer with edible beauty products? No joke and no! i do not read thrashy magazines at all but i was kindly informed by my Sociology lecturer. Who has really dark humour (yummy) which is kind of peculiar to Englishmen. This is what he said (to a certain degree inexact) " After this, our culture will be to go to the toilet for meals and be very sure to arrange the cosmetics into two areas -- one that is poisonous and one that is edible." hahaha.
Still dont believe me? I think most girls would have read it in some fashion magazine by now but you can check out the whole RANGE here at www.dessertbeauty.com. I hear some of you people scribbling something down on your Christmas list?

Notice name of ship 

Revolutionarily abstract and irrelevant 

Quebec City

Visited Quebec City in the weekend, which is around 6 hours bus ride away from where i study. Really historical town where the French and English fought violently over the New World. Montcalm and Woolfe if you interested in military history. They both died in the final battle. War -- losers all round. Back to modern day Quebec -- it is still French speaking which is kind of romantic in the stereotypical way.
Basically the only French i spoke was acquired from Lonely Planet: "Pardon, parlez vous Anglais?" which means "Sorry, do you speak English?" It was supposed to be less rude, although we did hear an Australian making a innocent joke on a long distant phone call.
(Exaggerated Aussie slang) "Pardon, parlez vous Anglais mate". Which means we Singaporeans should do something like "huh? Gong simi? Parlez vous Anglais or not?"
All the eating in interesting places (Lonely Planet had some really good recommendations i must admit -- although not every country/location it reviews is of the same quality sadly.), had me really missing Louise. Somehow when you hear people speaking in French you just feel strangely romanticized. haha. I would have liked to have her share my rabbit dish, (its hunted in this part of the world apparently -- dont be too upset k Uncle Ivan and Michelle Nai, hehe, i am sure they are not as cute as the ones we tend to see displayed on popular discourses) with her. Not sure if you would want to though dear, escargots maybe? I must frankly admit though that rabbit taste a bit like Tuna.
Having seen that many popular blogs ( and i shall not name them here) use photoshop as a means of getting people's attention, i have attempted my own photoshop rendevous (since we in the habit of French now). The photos which are only partly coloured symbolise the absence of a part of me in Quebec. I have not made any attempt to hide or disguise my looks in any way during this exercise as most photoshop users are in the habit of doing. God made me as His wonderful creation and He also gave me someone to love me just as i am, even though she wasnt in the pictures this time around. And sincerely i think thats more beautiful then anything photoshop can do.

Cold + Wet = Hibernation mode

Unlike people in Perth who are going through the onset of 35 degree summers now, its getting really wet and cold in Kingston, Ontario. Just as an aside, what do you call people from Perth? Perthlings?, Perthlites (too much like cigarettes), Pertharians ( this just sounds embarrassing), Perthologists?, Perthies ( Not really that many hippies), oh well i guess its Western Australians.
And the gloomy weather has got me thinking of the movie "March of the Penguins". I think it was an excellent documentary. But i guess that is just it -- its a documentary. Frankly, i dont think its that novel if you do watch animal documentaries in your life. Ok, maybe penguins are cute and kind of clumsy looking and the story line tried to make it seem that love crosses all bounds : which always gets people getting all hyped up about the greatness of the human race. Which is kind of ironic to me, considering we need to be reminded of love from flightless birds.
But i really felt funny that it was considered to be SO good when it seemed to be a normal documentary in some sense. Maybe its Morgan Freeman's voice. Or the intrepid explorers and photographers surviving the cold. However, i guess the bottom line is that people should watch more documentaries. Most of the techniques in the film are not new definitely. The strange walking of penguins got AaaWwwws from the audience and maybe the penguin slipping on ice was comic relief. I do believe many other animal documentaries encompass some elements of such things too. In some sense i enjoyed the film a lot, it was highly informative and intriguing, though i must say i was slightly disappointed that it was merely a documentary.
I wonder if people only know David Attenborough for his role in Jurassic Park. haha.

Blog what you study

In about 5 mins i am supposed to be leaving and on my way to Quebec. But i kind of feel my blog has been neglected. Was doing a Sociology (yes i do things besides Psych) essay and came across something interesting describing the risk society and genetically modified (GM) foods.

The Risk Of Nations
In the US products are safe until proven risky
In France products are risky until proven safe
In the UK, products are risky even when proven safe
In India products are safe even when proven risky
In Switzerland products are risky especially after they have been proven safe
In Kenya products are safe especially after they have been proven risky
In Canada products are neither safe nor risky
In Brazil products are both safe and risky
In Ethoiopia products are risky even if they have not been developed

Its from an annoynomous contributor on www.agbioworld.org but i got it from a 2003 book called Genes , trade and regulation by Bernauer. Interesting but not sure if its historically or politically correct. haha. But since when has that stopped humour.

Consistency is what i want in life.

After my previous post i realised how long it has been since anyone has posted on this blog. I do realise that only 2 ppl ever post here. But oh well, its been busy time for me and i am at the moment studying for a test on friday. And since i am studying this really interesting theory on social psychology and Louise is rather interested in knowing about it, i might as well practice my essay writing skills here. This might be the first and last time a post on In-sense-abel is actually of practical use and is relevant to the real world.
I am not sure if many of the people reading (and i doubt that there are that many anyway) have heard of the theory of cognitive dissonance. I read about in year 1 in UWA but in second year its a bit more detailed and its implications are being studied more (or shld i say much more examinable in Queens). In essence, the theory of cognitive dissonance by Leon Festinger (1957) states that a powerful motive to maintain consistency can give rise to irrational and sometimes maladaptive behaviour.
According to Festinger, everyone holds certain cognitions about ourselves and the world around us. These can be everything we know about our own beliefs, attitudes and behaviour for example. Although most times our cognitions coexist peacefully, at certain times they clash. The text book example is being on a diet and diving into chocolate mousse. Therefore, to cut the long story short, under certain specific conditions, discrepancies such as these can evoke an unpleasent state of tension known as cognitive dissonance.
The classic experiment is one conducted by Festinger and Carlsmith in 1959. They made participants in their experiment turn square pegs in holes to the left , then turn them back to the right, then left and so on for half an hour. They then made them take spools of thread off a board , replace them and put them back again for another half an hour. This undoubtedly is the most boring hour in most of the participants' lives. HAHA. (thats if they didnt run off halfway or suffered a boredom breakdown mind you).
The second part of the study involves telling these participants that they are actually involved in an experiment measuring motivation on performance. This is in fact a blatant lie. They are then asked to tell the next person going to take the test that the test was a fun and exciting, throughly enjoyable experiment. In actual fact, the next participant is a conferderate of the whole scam. The crucial manipulation is the participants are given either $20, or $1 to lie.
By means of an elaborate but very cleverly staged scam, participants have been tricked to an attitude discrepant behaviour. The experiment was terribly dull, yet they raved about it and this conflict arose cognitive dissonance. After talking to the next participant (the conferderate), and the experiment presumably over, the real participants were surveyed to ask their feelings on the task. Take a moment to think what the findings of the experiment were? They might be a bit counterintuitive. Try answering this question " True or False -- The more money you pay a person to tell a lie, the more they will come to believe it." ??



Those in a control group who were not required to mislead someone , admitted bluntly the task was boring (avg rating 6-7). The $20 group also admitted boredom (avg 9-10), but the $1 group rated the task as somewhat enjoyable (avg 22-23).
Why this occurred according to Festinger was that people in the $1 group were thinking "surely my integrity is worth more than a buck?" There had insufficient justification (a condition which ppl freely perform an attitude discrepant behaviour without receiving a large reward), and thus needed a way to cope. Bottom line: Behaving in an attidtude discrepant manner without justification, the one dollar participants changed their attitudes in order to reduce dissonance. Stemming from this then is the idea that when ppl behave in ways that contradict their attitudes, they sometimes go on to change their attitudes, even without a persuasive communication. What are some of the implications of this then? That will be tomorrow's topic but you ppl can think abt it. And feel how strange the human species can be sometimes. Actually like Festinger and Carlsmith, i am also lying, its mainly that i am tired of typing. Laters.

The End of Religion

Am currently reading a book entitled "The end of religion, an introduction to the subversive spirituality of Jesus" by Bruxy Cavey. Its a highly provocative title but basically, i guess its good because its about something modern day christians dont really emphasize. Basically, the short and to the point book just illustrates how Jesus came to end the traditions that were bugging the church during His time. Like He used hand washing, 'purifying' water for his first miracle of changing water into wine and He asked a man to pick up his mat on the Sabbath after healing him. Both of which could be classified as work in strict Jewish rules of that time.
I do not think that this is new to most Christians but i for one found it more enlightening to realise how religion has caused more divisions in the world of ages past as well as today. There was the Inquisition, the Crusades, and look at Ireland and Jihad of today. Its really sad to look at the state of the world brought about by blind adherence to religious norms. However, its good to know that Jesus actually came to put an END to such twisted cultures. I find it comforting now to better understand that it is actually so clear in the bible that Jesus came to end such mindless adherence to law.
As the theoretical underpinnings of the book are too myraid to reproduce here, i will just leave with a more motivational excerpt from the book. Mathew 23:1-4 reads 'Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them...." "And that's the problem with religion ... it can point out whats wrong with us without freeing us from those very problems. It can direct us toward where we need to go, but it doesnt help us get there. It gives us an apparently high standard but not the power to live up to that standard. It uses rules to force our steps, guilt to keep us in line, and rituals to remind us of our failure to live up to those rules. In doing this, religion adds more weight to those already burdened by life's hardships" (Cavey 2005, p.91).
To contrast this, the author uses Matthew 11:28-30 and asks us to ponder them anew. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Cavey also stresses that its a yoke that we take, not "take my couch under you". Its an active, constructive rest. A yoke when used as a farming implement is a symbol of cooperative labour. A yoke often unites 2 working animals together in rhythmic cooperation. Jesus offers us to learn from Him and grow spiritually from a partnership. Just like when His death on the cross tore the temple curtain in two, our connection to him is now first hand and not bounded by intermediaries.